CLOUDS PART 03 - SHADOWS AND LIGHT

May 14 2025

On the brightest of early summer days we visited the high cliff tops near Calais, the view across the English Channel hazy, cattle grazing in nearby sweeping fields. Earlier this week another person tragically died trying to cross this body of water. Our visit today was in preparation for a cross Channel collaboration this Refugee Week in June with artist @claudiajanke @wavelengthprojects

At the day centre @calais.exilessc we set up The Community Table in the main space and covered it with our blue sky and cloud tablecloth which strikingly set off the building materials placed on its surface. Because of the light and location in the space, gentle shadows also became an active feature of the tabletop.

Throughout the afternoon, the materials and space were made use of by young men, mostly from Yemen and Sudan, curious at the bricks and objects and interested to build. We were joined by @sautedanslamarre_go , an architectural student from Paris, who brought with her miniature handmade furniture which animated the small buildings that soon started to populate the table. We were impressed by the focus on detail, internal and outside spaces carefully created and even occupied.

Words were exchanged in Arabic and compared with English. With all the personal and collective challenges we know these men carry, curiosity and absorption were possible and people seemed to appreciate the light. There were conversations about language, about family, about dreams, about home.

We hadn’t met these men before who sat around the table, but it felt familial, like neighbours not strangers - they are sons, fathers, brothers, nephews, uncles, cousins. In the background, phone charging and conversations took place, tea was drunk, and a group got up to dance.